Dunbar Armored Robber of 1997

Dunbar Armored Robber of 1997

The Dunbar Armoredrobbery is said to be the largest cash robbery in the history of the United States. In fact, the robbers made off with over eighteen million dollars. In 1997, both the Dunbar Armored robbery and the Loomis Fargo Bank Robbery took place, making history in the process. In both cases, individuals involved in the robberies were caught and faced serious charges. In the Dunbar Armored robbery, most of the money was recovered during arrests, but almost ten million dollars has never been recovered.

The Dunbar Armored robbery was suspected to be an inside job immediately after the crime was discovered. In fact, the Regional Safety Inspector was the one that came up with the idea of committing the crime. He then recruited other individuals, but only after photographing the armored car depot to aid in the planning of the crime. Those photographs provided the perpetrators with vital facts that were necessary to complete the crime while avoiding arrest.

After he had acquired all necessary facts, he recruited five trusted friends form his early childhood. He utilized his keys to gain access to the structure, and he and his associates disabled the guards one by one. After ambushing most of the guards, the group moved toward the vault, that they knew to be open on specific evenings. Once at the vault, the perpetrators rushed the guards in and around the vault, disabling all of them. The group was actually able to disable the guards before they could manage to set off any alarms.

It took less than half an hour for the perpetrators to load the money into a waiting van. Due to the nature of information available to the Regional Safety Inspector, the group knew which bags contained the most money, effectively avoiding bags that contained only small bills. In addition, the group was aware of all security procedures, including the location of guards and security cameras.

Because the perpetrators had helpful information, they were unable to avoid law enforcement during the commission of the crime. However, it was the very nature of their knowledge that eventually gave them away. Immediately, it was suspected that only an insider would have such vast information about security procedures. When one associate gave a stack of bills to an individual, the individual then reported the transaction to the authorities.

That associate eventually confessed, implicating the others involved. The Dunbar Armored robbery was the largest cash heist in United States history. However, it is believed that everyone involved was caught and faced charges. Yet, inexplicably, some of the money was never recovered. In fact, over half of the money remains unaccounted for.